REG - B.P. Marsh &Partners - Investee Company Disposal - Walsingham Motor

B.P. Marsh & PartnersAnnouncement

22/12/2021 07:00

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RNS Number : 4170W  B.P. Marsh & Partners PLC  22 December 2021

Date: 22 December 2021

 

B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc

("B.P. Marsh", "the Company" or "the Group")

Investee Company Disposal - Walsingham Motor Insurance Limited

 

B.P. Marsh, the specialist investor in early-stage financial services
businesses, is pleased to announce that on 21 December 2021 the Group sold its
stake in investee company Walsingham Motor Insurance Limited ("WMIL"), a
London-based Managing General Agency, which specialises in UK Courier and Taxi
fleet motor insurance.

 

B.P. Marsh sold its 40.5% shareholding in WMIL for £4.6m in cash. As part of
this transaction, the Group will receive a further £0.2m in cash from its 20%
shareholding in Walsingham Holdings Ltd, resulting in total proceeds of £4.8m
alongside the repayment of £0.3m in loans.

 

WMIL has been acquired by Humn.ai Limited ("Humn"), a London-based insurance
provider producing real-time data-driven fleet insurance.

 

The Group initially invested £0.3m in WMIL in December 2013, with total
equity investment to date of £0.6m. In addition, the Group provided £1.2m in
loans which were subsequently fully repaid. The Group also invested in
Walsingham Holdings Ltd in May 2018 and provided £0.3m in loans to enable it
to acquire 11.7% in equity of WMIL from an exiting shareholder. Over the eight
years following the initial investment, WMIL has grown its Gross Written
Premium from start-up to over £26m.

 

In total, including the amounts receivable from both WMIL and Walsingham
Holdings Ltd, this disposal represents a multiple of eight times the equity
invested. This represents a 23% uplift over the valuation announced at 31st
July 2021 of £3.9m, and an Internal Rate of Return of 22% (inclusive of all
income and fees).

 

The disposal of WMIL is in keeping with B.P. Marsh's strategy of investing for
the long term in start-up and early stage businesses with ambitious management
teams. This allows the Company to work with management to help grow their
business, before disposing of its stake at a beneficial time for both B.P.
Marsh, management and the investee company itself.

 

CEO of WMIL, Garry Watson, commented:

 

"It has been a pleasure working with the B.P. Marsh team over the past years
and their contribution and support has been invaluable in getting Walsingham
to where we are today."

 

Commenting on the disposal, the Group's Finance Director and Nominee Director
on the Board of WMIL, Jon Newman, commented:

 

"It has been a pleasure to work with Garry Watson, Martin Gray and the whole
team at WMIL over the past eight years and to see the business grow and
flourish. The acquisition by Humn offers an exciting future for them, and we
wish everyone at WMIL every success.

 

"The sale of our stake in WMIL at an IRR of 22% is another example of B.P.
Marsh being able to identify niche opportunities to back successful management
teams and to successfully realise value for our shareholders. This
demonstrates the benefits of our investment process which has proven
successful over a number of years."

 

 

For further information:

 

 B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc                                   www.bpmarsh.co.uk (http://www.bpmarsh.co.uk/)
 Brian Marsh OBE                                             +44 (0)20 7233 3112

 Nominated Adviser & Broker

 Panmure Gordon
 Atholl Tweedie / Charles Leigh-Pemberton / Ailsa MacMaster  +44 (0)20 7886 2500

 Financial PR & Investor Relations
 Tavistock                                                   bpmarsh@tavistock.co.uk
 Simon Hudson / Tim Pearson                                  +44 (0)20 7920 3150

 

Notes to Editors:

B.P. Marsh's current portfolio contains fifteen companies. More detailed
descriptions of the portfolio can be found at www.bpmarsh.co.uk
(http://www.bpmarsh.co.uk/) .

 

Since formation over 30 years ago, the Company has assembled a management team
with considerable experience both in the financial services sector and in
managing private equity investments. Several of the directors have worked with
each other in previous roles, and all have worked with each other for over ten
years.

- Ends -

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